Michael Hernandez, 18, is set to stand trial in September for stabbing to death classmate Jaime Gough.By EVAN S. BENN
ebenn@MiamiHerald.com
A Miami-Dade judge will decide Friday whether to move a teenager's murder trial to another Florida city, where potential jurors will be less likely to be swayed by media coverage of the 2004 high-profile killing.
Michael Hernandez, 18, is set to stand trial in September for stabbing to death classmate Jaime Gough in a bathroom at Southwood Middle School when both boys were 14. He cannot get a fair trial in Miami-Dade or Broward counties because of intense media coverage of the case, defense attorney Richard Rosenbaum argued at a motion hearing Tuesday.
Prosecutors agreed with the change-of-venue request, suggesting Tampa or Orlando as possible options. Rosenbaum said he preferred Palm Beach County but would accept Tampa or Orlando.
Attorneys for both sides told Circuit Judge John Schlesinger they believed the hundreds of news stories published and broadcast about the case since 2004 have tainted potential South Florida jurors.
''It's not a matter of whether they know about it, it's whether they can be fair,'' Schlesinger said, adding that he will make a decision Friday about whether to move the trial.
Hernandez, who faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder, is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. If jurors agree with that defense, Hernandez would be sent for mental-health treatment.
ebenn@MiamiHerald.com
A Miami-Dade judge will decide Friday whether to move a teenager's murder trial to another Florida city, where potential jurors will be less likely to be swayed by media coverage of the 2004 high-profile killing.
Michael Hernandez, 18, is set to stand trial in September for stabbing to death classmate Jaime Gough in a bathroom at Southwood Middle School when both boys were 14. He cannot get a fair trial in Miami-Dade or Broward counties because of intense media coverage of the case, defense attorney Richard Rosenbaum argued at a motion hearing Tuesday.
Prosecutors agreed with the change-of-venue request, suggesting Tampa or Orlando as possible options. Rosenbaum said he preferred Palm Beach County but would accept Tampa or Orlando.
Attorneys for both sides told Circuit Judge John Schlesinger they believed the hundreds of news stories published and broadcast about the case since 2004 have tainted potential South Florida jurors.
''It's not a matter of whether they know about it, it's whether they can be fair,'' Schlesinger said, adding that he will make a decision Friday about whether to move the trial.
Hernandez, who faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder, is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. If jurors agree with that defense, Hernandez would be sent for mental-health treatment.
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